OLPC / Freeplay
OLPC is a MIT project – One Laptop Per Child. The objective is to create a $100 laptop for children in the developing world, with pretty interesting specifications. These laptops will only be available for mass purchases, either by NGOs or governments.
Freeplay is a company (and foundation) that produces devices based on wind-up and solar energy, such as radios and flashlights. Their goal is that populations in developing countries have access to information (through radio broadcasts) without the need of having a energy infrastructure in place (be it regular electricity or batteries).
This week it was announced that the OLPC would see a price hike, and that it wouldn’t be able to reach the $100 price target until at least 6 million units are sold, and that it would start to be sold around the $130-140 price range.
One of the interesting business/social practices of Freeplay is that they help fund their social works in the developing world through the sale of their products in the developed world.
I think the specifications of the OLPC are very interesting also for children in the developed world – think of it as a Fisher Price “My first laptop”, for children 5 and up, simple, sturdy, pre-packaged with reading and math software for first graders. If it was sold for approximately $199/€159 in the US and in Europe, and the difference between the cost and the retail price applied towards financing the OLPCs to the developing world, it would help both increase the amount of OLPCs produced and lower both the overall cost and purchase price for the developing world.
